Drying bubbling air

[Julian]

The last batch went perfectly until the final drying.  It's remained cloudy despite a final bubbling over night starting from 70+°C.

I've had this idea at the back of my head since I tried drying oil in the processor with a small compressor.

The set up is simple ... jam jar filled with silica gel, two bolts drilled longitudinally and bolted through holes in the lid with one of them having a length of tube silver soldered on the head to reach the bottom of the jar.  Air from the aquarium pump is then passed through the jar before being introduced into the bio.

It's made a difference to the clarity of the bio, but it took quite a while, so I'm not overly impressed with the efficiency.  The silica gel, however, is quite old and a strange coulor ... it should be orange when dry and green when damp.  I'll try spreading some on the log burner this evening and see if I get a good colour change and if that makes any difference to the speed of drying.

[greasemonkey]

Not a bad idea. How much does the silica jel cost. Could you make it bigger, like maybe a foot long piece of osma?
Might be more efficient.

[Jonzeyboy43]

Silica beads about £14 a kilo. I just made a turbo dryer which is the same idea

[Glycer-rides]

Not a bad idea. How much does the silica jel cost. Could you make it bigger, like maybe a foot long piece of osma?
Might be more efficient.

You'd need to consider the static loadings in place, though.
Vis a vis........

How's the Osma been laden?

[Julian]

A few mins in the microwave is pants as far as drying the silica gel is concerned.  Spreading on a baking try on or even under the log burner, if it's very hot, does a far better job.

[rumple]

I get mine from here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silica-Gel-Dessicant-Granules-Beads-Self-Indicating-Loose-Multilisting-/140688372885?pt=UK_Packaging_Materials&var=&hash=item20c1ae3495

Been regenerating and using them for 18 months on a Turbo dryer.

Mark.

[greasemonkey]

Not a bad idea. How much does the silica jel cost. Could you make it bigger, like maybe a foot long piece of osma?
Might be more efficient.

You'd need to consider the static loadings in place, though.
Vis a vis........

How's the Osma been laden?

Had to read that a couple of times..........

[Julian]

I've had this setup running for a couple of days and changed the silica gel a couple of times.  This morning it had improved somewhat although still a little cloudy, but it had developed a cream coloured scum on the surface.

I passed it through my dry wash tower and into a second settling barrel and the clarity improved dramatically.  So I'm not really sure what's going on with this batch ... perhaps not all the cloudiness was water after all, despite water absorbing gel giving clear samples.  Weird!